that's one of the main reasons india's fiscal deficit ballooned last year. it put the rupee under pressure, slowed growth and left a finance minister concerned. >> i may add that we may be left with no choice but to make it a little more expensive to import gold. >> reporter: he then raised the import tax on gold for the third time in a year. this time, hiking it from 4% to 6%. industry insiders say that's likely to cause an increase in illegal smuggling into india, but they also don't think legal imports will come down. and even if gold ends up being more expensive, they say consumers will still want it. >> gold is the commodity which has paid you ten times in properties also the recession is there, stocks also, the index, you can see from last couple of years. nobody's got much return on the investment besides gold. >> reporter: it's been good for the retailer. but according to this economist, money spent on gold is a drag on the economy. according to estimates, indians put away about 20,000 tons of gold and jewelry, coins, and bars. >> because the savings